''Starostwo'' (literally " eldership") is an administrative unit established from the 14th century in the

Polish Crown The Crown of the Kingdom of Poland (; ) was a political and legal concept formed in the 14th century in the Kingdom of Poland, assuming unity, indivisibility and continuity of the state. Under this idea, the state was no longer seen as the pa ...

and later in the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...

until the

partition of Poland The Partitions of Poland were three partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place between 1772 and 1795, toward the end of the 18th century. They ended the existence of the state, resulting in the elimination of sovereign ...

in 1795. Starostwos were established in the

crown lands Crown land, also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an entailed estate and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it. Today, in Commonwealth realm ...

(''królewszczyzna''). The term continues to be used in modern Poland.

''Starosta''

Each ''starostwo'' was administered by an official known as ''

starosta Starosta or starost (Cyrillic: ''старост/а'', Latin: ''capitaneus'', ) is a community elder in some Slavic lands. The Slavic root of "starost" translates as "senior". Since the Middle Ages, it has designated an official in a leadersh ...

''. The ''starosta'' received the office from the king and kept it until the end of his life. It usually provided a significant income for the ''starosta''. His deputy was variously known as ''podstarosta'', ''podstarości'', ''burgrabia'', ''włodarz'', or ''surrogator''. ''Encyklopedia staropolska'', Podstarosta i podstarości" The types of ''starosta'' included: * ''Starosta Generalny'' was the administrative official of a territorial unit: either the representative of the King or Grand Duke or a person directly in charge. * ''Starosta Grodowy'' was a county (''

powiat A ''powiat'' (; ) is the second-level unit of local government and administration in Poland, equivalent to a county, district or prefecture (Local administrative unit, LAU-1 ormerly Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics, NUTS-4 ...

'')-level official responsible for fiscal duties, police and courts, and also responsible for the execution of judicial verdicts. * ''Starosta Niegrodowy'' was the overseer of the

Crown land Crown land, also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an entailed estate and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it. Today, in Commonwealth realm ...

''Powiat'' ''starosta''

When Poland regained independence in 1918 (until the beginning of the

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

in 1939) and in 1944–1950, the ''starosta'' was the head of ''

'' (county) administration, subordinate to the

voivode Voivode ( ), also spelled voivod, voievod or voevod and also known as vaivode ( ), voivoda, vojvoda, vaivada or wojewoda, is a title denoting a military leader or warlord in Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe in use since the Early Mid ...

. Since local government reforms effective from 1 January 1999, the ''starosta'' is the head of the ''powiat'' executive board (''zarząd powiatu''), and the head of the (part of the powiat administration), elected by the ''powiat'' council (''rada powiatu'').

Notes

References

Types of administrative division Legal history of Poland Administrative divisions of Poland {{Poland-hist-stub